Long Island woman convicted of hiring hitman to murder husband after plot to poison him failed

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BROOKLYN — A Long Island woman has been convicted of hiring a hitman to murder her husband in 2013 after she failed to poison him — twice.

A jury found Alishia Noel-Murray, 30, guilty of hiring a hitman to shoot Omar Murray, 37, in his Brownsville home.

Omar Murray, 37, was shot dead inside his Brownsville home around 12:58 p.m.on February 24, 2013.

An investigation led police to Damien Lovell, 29-year-old Alisha Noel-Murray’s boyfriend, who told investigators that his girlfriend had asked him to find someone to kill her husband after her attempt to poison him had failed.

The first hired hitman shot at the victim on February 6, 2013, but missed, according to testimony.

Lovell then hired 29-year-old Kirk Portious and provided him with a $500 down payment and the gun, which he received from Noel-Murray, the evidence showed.

The gunman was promised a total of $3,500. Noel-Murray had taken out nearly $900,000 in life insurance on her husband before the murder and attempted to cash out the policies within days of his death.

Noel-Murray was convicted on June 8 of first-degree murder following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court. Portious was convicted today by a separate jury of first-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Each face a life sentence without the possibility of parole when they’re sentenced on June 29, 2017.

Lovell had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for a promised sentence of 15 years to life in prison.